After Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s recent underwhelming trilogy fight against Gennady Golovkin, former unified super-middleweight and light-heavyweight champion Andre Ward has had his say and felt Canelo should have done better.
Speaking to ESPN, Ward announced that the Mexican should have been able to stop the fight going to the judges, with his counterpart Golovkin clearly being past his best.
“I thought he should have stopped that version of Golovkin. If Canelo is the all-time great that he says he is, you’ve got to take advantage of a guy like that, who literally just showed up to get a cheque.
The performance from Canelo was a little shocking, I thought he would do more. But the performance from Golovkin was not shocking. I was shocked by the response and the reaction that people finally got the revelation that he [Golovkin] is looking old. He’s looked old for the last two to three years.”
Ward, who retired undefeated with a record of 32-0, went on to analyse the legacy of Canelo Alvarez, who went into 2022 at the top of pound-for-pound list for the majority of boxing fans.
However, four-weight world champion Alvarez has since lost to Dmitry Bivol and followed it up with a below-par performance against “Triple G”. This has got many people, Ward included, questioning the quality of his previous victories and whether or not he has avoided certain fights.
“It’s tricky, it’s complicated, because on the surface, he’s fought everybody, he’s done everything and he’s taken all the risks.
He doesn’t have a lot of prime names on his résumé, that being said, I think Canelo is a great talent. He’s had a great career and of course he is a hall-of-famer, no doubt about that.
They know when Canelo should fight certain guys and when to stay away. Benavidez is not going to happen right now, it’s too dangerous.”
It may be some time until we get answers to these questions, as Canelo will undergo wrist surgery and could be out for most of 2023.